It’s been one year since former WWE star Brian Christopher passed away and now his father Jerry Lawler has taken legal action against the police department where his son was in custody.

According to WMC5 in Memphis, Lawler filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Hardeman County Sheriff in which he’s seeking $3 million in damages.

As we previously reported, Brian Lawler had been arrested prior to his passing and was found hanging in his cell. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide, but Jerry Lawler has continued to raise questions about his son’s death.

In new documents, Lawler explains that he didn’t bail his son out of jail at the time because he was assured by the Sheriff that they’d help with his addiction and personal issues. Instead, however, Jerry claims Brian was placed into solitary confinement after being assaulted by another inmate.

Lawler alleges his son wasn’t assessed for any potential suicide risks afterward — despite suffering from depression, a history of suicide attempts and drug addiction — and instead let him enter a cell with bolts protruding from the walls while wearing tennis shoes that had laces.

The WWE Hall of Famer also believes the supervising officers at the time were negligent in how they dealt with the incident. Lawler claims one officer saw Brian Christopher with a towel over his head and didn’t take action. Instead, he took out the trash first and only took action after finding Brian in the same position when he returned. At that point, he and another officer entered the cell and used children’s scissors to cut the laces.

In addition to the money, “The King” also wants the Hardeman County Sheriff to make changes in order to protect inmates from harm in the future.

 

Brian was being held in jail after an arrest on charges of DUI, evading arrest, and driving while on a revoked license. Jerry said on Monday that his family wants policies and training in place at the jail, which would protect and provide health cae to those who are in serious medical and mental distress, and those who are an obvious suicide risk.

“It’s just something you have to cope with on a daily basis,” Jerry said. “It never goes away, you think about it every single day. And what makes it worse, like Jeff (Rosenblum) said, is when you feel like it just didn’t have to happen.”

Jerry took to Twitter to remember his son on the one year anniversary of passing, as seen below.

“Today was a very tough day. It’s been exactly one year since my son Brian Christopher died. I want to thank everyone who thought about Brian today. We’ll never forget you, Brian,” Jerry wrote.

https://twitter.com/JerryLawler/status/1156047618553856002

Sources: Pro Wrestling Sheet and Wrestling Inc.